


Real Life, Love

by QuickLikeLight



Series: Tumblr Fics [9]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Pining, Test anxiety, grad school
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 17:49:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9835538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuickLikeLight/pseuds/QuickLikeLight
Summary: The sound of Lydia’s key in the lock makes him breathe a small sigh of relief. Lydia’s home. She’ll know what to do.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [katarama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/katarama/gifts).



Scott curls up on Lydia’s sofa, waiting for her to get home. His stomach feels sour, his anxiety ratcheted up until he feels sick, even though he knows that can’t be right. He can’t get sick anymore, almost violent good health taking away every excuse for a sick day, but he feels like he needs one right now. The test was like nothing Scott’s ever experienced in a classroom, and considering he went to Beacon Hills High, that’s saying something. He had thought he was prepared, thought all the studying he’d done would be enough, but then he sat down and it was like everything he knew just left his head all at once, leaving him blank and empty as he stared down at the test questions. 

The sound of Lydia’s key in the lock makes him breathe a small sigh of relief. Lydia’s home. She’ll know what to do. 

“What’s wrong?” she asks, shopping bags over one arm and high heels in her free hand. Her feet are covered by sweet little flats that he knows she keeps in her car for long days, and he smiles as she toes them off just inside the door to her graciously appointed apartment. Graduate school has done them both well, and their friendship is tighter than it’s ever been - as long as he ignores the feelings he has for her, buried deep in the part of his heart that he never shows. It’s fine. He’s happy with her friendship. 

“How’d you know something was wrong?” he asks, though he’s sure he looks miserable. He sounds miserable. 

“You texted me that you used my spare key. Either something is wrong with your apartment, which you would have told me over the text message, or something is wrong with you, which you would try to hide until it was convenient for someone to pay attention to you. So what happened?” 

Her logically take down of the situation is succinct and judgment-free, exactly what Scott was expecting. He sits up, clearing his throat. “I had a test today that I know I bombed.” 

Lydia nods slowly, though he knows she’s probably never felt what he’s feeling in her entire life. She’s not un-empathetic, though, not like she used to be, and she instantly comes to sit next to him, throws her arm around his shoulders and buries a hand in his hair. 

“Test anxiety?” she asks quietly, and Scott just nods. There’s no other reasoning for it that he can tell, just a simple case of test nerves gone wildly wrong. Lydia scritches her fingers through his hair and some of the tension bleeds out of his shoulders. “I know what you need.” 

“An easier grad program? A new dream? A job waiting tables for the next 800 years to pay off my student loans?” Scott asks, whining a little. Lydia laughs at him. 

“You need a cup of tea and a good movie, and you’ll be right as rain.” 

He aches to reach for her as she gets up to go to the kitchen and put the kettle on, but he knows he can’t - shouldn’t - doesn’t want her to feel uncomfortable with him, to think he’s not satisfied with their relationship as it is. 

Scott knows this little ritual well - the cup of ginger tea she’ll get for him, the way they’ll curl up together on her sofa, even the movie - a romantic one she loves, that he secretly likes too - that she’ll turn on. It’s such a well worn habit that he almost doesn’t realize it when she clears her throat at the climax, as the heroine kisses the hero, and says, “I love you.” 

“Oh,” Scott says, once it’s sunk in. They don’t usually - but maybe she can tell how lonely he’s been, how much he needs someone - “I love you too.” 

“I know,” she says softly. “I could tell when your feelings for me started to change. You started looking at me differently. You never said anything, though, so I thought maybe it was time I take matters into my own hands. I love you, Scott.” 

Scott feels like water’s rushing past his ears, feels heavy and light at the same time. “You - you love me, love me? Like, movie love me?” It’s a weird comparison but he knows she’ll get it. 

Lydia reaches for him, small hands on either side of his face, and pulls him in for a soft, slow kiss, her lips perfectly smooth and soft underneath his own bitten and chapped ones. It’s a lightning storm behind his heart, lighting him up inside as he scrambles to put his tea down and touch her hair, her face. 

“I better than movie love you,” Lydia says when she pulls away, both of them breathing unsteadily. “I real life love you, Scott McCall.” 

Scott grins,  all traces of anxiety from earlier washed away in the face of his overwhelming happiness. “I real life love you too, Lydia.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Your feedback is valuable to all fic writers, and I'm no exception. If you enjoyed this story, please let me know.
> 
> Come find me on [tumblr](http://quicklikelight.tumblr.com).


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